Everything Deserves a Remix: Baltimore and Jersey Club Meet Vine

Nicolas Fraser’s "Why You Always Lying" was a perfect Vine. His comedic DIY interpretation of Next’s '90s hit "Too Close" quickly became one of the most enjoyable memes of 2015. The dance moves, the inexplicable prop toilet, and the all-important phrase: "Mmhohmygod, why the fuck you lying?" The video is approaching 50 million views on Vine alone and while most people watched the video and shared it with friends, SoundCloud saw producers in a rush to create and upload the best remix of the clip.

"Vine works so well for club remixes because the way looping something just makes [the audio] inherently musical," says Schwarz, a Baltimore club producer and label owner. "[It] opens people to think of it musically more immediately." The video sharing app Vine was created to make brief six-second videos that could stand up to endless viewing—essentially a longform GIF. That particular style fit right into the already hyperactive style of Baltimore and Jersey club. Both offshoots of house have experienced ebbs and flows of attention around them in their lifetimes, but they remain catholic in their parameters of what is worthy of sampling.

Before the Internet provided the palette for Baltimore club, it wouldn’t be surprising to hear songsgrab from television shows or even stand-up comedians used for sample material. That genre elasticity was stretched a couple years ago, when a video of a train explosion went viral and within 24 hours the producer Matic808 remixed it into a Baltimore club track. When producers are already eager to repurpose any interesting audio clip they hear, of course the readymades of Vine would be next.

One of the earliest videos being repurposed was also one of the earliest viral Vines, Terio’s "Ooh Kill Em". The video of the little boy dancing provided an early example of how a Vine could make a lot out of a few seconds through its endless looping. "I told [DJ Taj] that these Vine songs are getting more attention from the youth than anything hip-hop, R&B, or soul," says DJ Flex, describing brainstorming with fellow Jersey club DJ and producer DJ Taj. He introduced the video sharing app to DJ Flex early on, and Taj made one of the early club and Vine hits with his remix of "Bish Whet" video. The last couple of years they’ve remixed everything from "A Potato Flew Around My Room" to "That’s My Best Friend" into their own club staples. These remixes don’t sample a single video, but will incorporate audio from other videos and even dances like the "Nae Nae" or "Whip". The density of references might appear cacophonous, but for those fluid in this post-Internet language it is simply an easy instruction to dance.

"The opportunity inspired me; the easiest way to make a song that everybody would like and vibe to would be an idea or theme that everybody already knows," says DJ Dizzy, a Baltimore club producer with a similar idea of using these songs. There is no kind of genre allegiance when it comes to who will engage with a Vine remix. It’s not rap, it’s not pop, it’s not EDM—it’s music for a generation that’s gone through life with a phone screen.

The conversation between club music and Vine also works the other way, where kids will grab from a club to create their own dance routines. "If you got a popping club track in the back [of a video], it makes it even funnier or a little bit more special," says DJ Angelbaby, a DJ on Baltimore’s 92Q radio station, on the appeal of club within the Vine community. "Everything else is been there done that, but when you hear some club music it’s like let me stop when you scrolling; it hits you hard when you hear it." The back and forth between club and Vine is just the same kids who are watching Vines, inspiring remixes, and creating dances to said remixes that loop back into what pushes DJ to find the latest trend to sample. An endless culture loop, based on a feed of endless loops.

"Baltimore club in the Vine era, someone will make a Terio or 'oohh killem' [and] by the time I heard a Baltimore club producer loop that it’s already been used in a hundred memes," says Baltimore-based writer Al Shipley. "Even if it’s a few days old, it’s old hat just for someone to put the song together." The speed with which videos travel online makes it so that genres always on the latest trend appear dated. Even so, obtuse sample material is the DNA of club music, be it a rap, R&B, a TV show, or even a clip of Young Thug’s daughter; no matter where culture moves, club producers are ready to give it a remix.